TAMPA, FLA.—With his parents in the stands, his teammates feeding him passes and his coach pulling the goalie late in an otherwise meaningless game, Auston Matthews did everything he could in chasing history.
Everything, that is, but score.
“I wanted it for sure,” Matthews said. “It just wasn’t meant to be.”
Matthews failed to score in the Maple Leafs’ regular-season finale, a 6-4 loss to the Tampa Bay Lightning, falling a goal short of 70. Still, he finished with 69 goals for the season, the most in Leafs history and tied for 15th in NHL history with Mario Lemieux and Mike Bossy.
“I know obviously there’s been a lot of focus on the pursuit of 70 goals, but you lose sight of just how well he’s played,” Leafs coach Sheldon Keefe said. “He’s playing well, feeling well. And it’s been fun to watch.
“The way he’s played these last two games … you give him those types of chances and those types of shots, he might have got 75. It wasn’t meant to be and that’s OK. Sixty-nine is an unbelievable season.”
Matthews fired 12 shots at Tampa Bay goalie Matt Tomkins as the Leafs rallied from a 6-1 deficit. T.J. Brodie and John Tavares scored late goals, their shots just missing a possible tip by Matthews, standing by the crease.
Brodie ended a personal 110-game goal-scoring drought, the longest among active players, but said he would have preferred an assist.
“I would have loved to see him get 70 tonight,” Brodie said.
“What an incredible year to watch live,” teammate Mark Giordano said. “I know, 70 goals or 69 goals, but what he did all year with and without the puck in both ends of the rink, he’s obviously what drives our team night in and night out.”
Matthews had 18 multi-goal nights this season, the most by any player since Alexander Mogilny in 1992-93, and he passed Dave Keon for third place on Toronto’s all-time goals list. And when the season ends Thursday, the 26-year-old Matthews should have his third Rocket Richard Trophy.
But he has already moved on, with the Leafs opening the playoffs Saturday in Boston.
“The most important thing is the team’s success, and making sure that I’m pulling my weight and doing what I can as a leader to help the team win as we go into the post-season,” Matthews said. “That’s where my mind has been at all year, as far as getting prepared for the spring.
”(Seventy goals) would have been nice, but now I’m looking forward to getting started on Saturday.”
There was another historic hockey number up for grabs. Nikita Kucherov, Tampa Bay’s MVP candidate, got his 100th assist of the season. He’s the fifth player in history to hit the century mark with helpers, and the second this season after Connor McDavid.
Though the Leafs are going into the playoffs with four losses in a row, there probably wasn’t much to read in to recent games with injuries, healthy regulars scratched and very little to play for as a team. They finished with 107 points, third in team history.
Hard-luck Willie
William Nylander fell short of his first 100-point season, but it wasn’t for a lack of trying. He finished with 97. He had an assist taken away from Game 81 overnight, upon an official review of the scoring play. He had one goal called back due to an offside video review at home to New Jersey on April 11, and two points removed due to goaltender interference: April 9 in New Jersey and Jan. 27 against Winnipeg.
Joining the legends
Matthews had his second 100-point season. Darryl Sittler and Doug Gilmour are the only other Leafs to do that … Matthews is the only Leaf with five consecutive seasons of at least 40 goals … Morgan Rielly became the third Leafs defenceman to record multiple 50-assist seasons. Only Börje Salming, who did it five times, had more … Giordano had two goals after the age of 40, joining Allan Stanley as the only Leaf to score twice at that age … Matthews is sixth in franchise history in points, Mitch Marner is eighth, Nylander 13th, Rielly 15th and Tavares 22nd … Max Domi became the first Domi to lead the Leafs in penalty minutes (118) since his father Tie (208) in 2003-04.
Career highs
Ilya Samsonov set a personal best for wins in a season, with 27 … Jake McCabe had his single-season high in points (26) … Nylander was the only Leaf to play all 82 games and set a career high in points. He also had the fourth-longest points streak in team history at 17 games.
Load management
The Leafs rested three regulars on the blue line: Rielly, McCabe and Joel Edmundson.
Keefe said there’s a “chance” any or all of the injured forwards — Calle Järnkrok (hand), Domi (lower body) and Bobby McMann (lower body) — will be ready for Game 1 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
“I would say all three are possibilities,” he said.
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